I have worked with the alpaca and come out on top. I have conquered, and I’m loving it.
A Bobbin of Joy
It’s really weird how different it is from regular wool. I can’t think of how to describe it expect that it’s “buttery-er” than wool. It kind of slides along. I’ve been spinning it on the Walking Wheel.
The original idea was to try for a sport weight yarn, but I don’t know if that’s what this will turn out as. I spun a gazillion little samples to see what the best amount of twist would be. (And promptly forgot which sample went with which amount of twist.) But, the alpaca seems to be behaving, and I’m getting pretty good at separating out the coarser, slippery hairs. Wait, that sounds funny—how can something be slippery and coarse? . . . but that’s really the only way I can describe it.
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A new year. A time for new projects. In other words, pulling out the bags of alpaca fleece and diving into them. Look at them. Sitting there in that basket. Calling.
Cinnamon Bliss
And I was quick to hear it calling, I’ll admit. Last night, full of hope I grabbed a few locks and sat down in front of the Saxony wheel. I’d read that to get the softest alpaca yarn you need to spin it from the fold.
What this means is that you take a lock of fleece and bend it over your left forefinger so the tip end and the cut end are even. So it’s in sort of an inverted “U” position with your finger running up the middle.
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The Completed Rebecca Yarn
Ta-da! It’s done. All the work and excitement has transformed into twenty-three ounces of light-worsted/worsted yarn. According to my calculations, that means that only nine ounces of weight washed out with the lanolin. As far as I know, that’s a decent amount. I’ve read that Merino wool loses half of its weight when you wash the grease out. Anyway, I am now trying to decide what color to dye the yarn, and whether to just wing it on the pattern, or look around and see what I can find.
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Look at this most beautiful bag full of the softest, cinnamon-iest alpaca fleece!
Alpaca Fleece
There are almost eight ounces! (Thanks, Mama Mentor!) I am so excited and eager to start playing with it.
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